


The future's so bright -- I need to wear shades

by youcantsaymylastname



Category: Inception (2010)
Genre: AU, Alternative Timeline, Lucid Dreaming, M/M, Mal and Arthur are siblings, Photoshop, contains manips and photographs, eames forges women and men
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-02-14
Updated: 2017-02-14
Packaged: 2018-09-24 08:46:23
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,471
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9713975
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/youcantsaymylastname/pseuds/youcantsaymylastname
Summary: Arthur started watching the new guy Mal recruited. Looking for the beauty behind the rough and tough facade. He noticed Eames but Arthur also noticed pink. Eames always wore something pink.





	

**Author's Note:**

  * For [earlgreytea68](https://archiveofourown.org/users/earlgreytea68/gifts).



> This is for earlgreytes68 for the Eames' Stupid Cupid 2017 exchange. She picked the word: Pink.  
> (This story contains manips.)  
> Thanks for the prompt. Have a great Valentine's Day!

Arthur ordered a pint in the crowded pub. Even though the drinking age in Britain was substantially lower than the United States, the bartender eyed Arthur trying to determine whether he could be serving a minor. Arthur threw his change onto the bar, biting his lip, feeling the angry words form but refusing to give in to his frustration about his young appearance.

“Darlin’, Mal din nae tell me her wee bairne wantit a babysitter for his GAP year,” drawled a bored voice behind Arthur. Arthur wished he was a better with regional accents. Arthur thought it might be Scottish but it was hard to understand the meaning when the guy talked so fast. 

Arthur growled, refusing to look at the man his sister had declared the most interesting, talented dream candidate Mal had observed during the last dream trials. 

Their father was the lead researcher of neuroscience in the sleep laboratories at Oxford. Mal worked for him as a research assistant while she completed her thesis for her doctorate. 

Let’s be honest though, his Dad was the lead researcher in breaking into people’s dreams and stealing their memories. His father’s research was funded primarily by shadowy figures from MI6 and the CIA.

Mal introduced Arthur to lucid dreaming when he was 16, while visiting his father and step-sister in between semesters in NYC. 

Since moving to London, Mal and Arthur had been searching for candidates of their own to start their own secret lucid dream research and profiteering. If their father wouldn’t let Arthur work with him, Mal and Arthur would work around him.

Stealing an old PASIV from the lab’s basement had been simple enough with Mal’s credentials. Yusuf, a student chemist who studied at Oxford but had been kicked out for selling Somnacin recreationally to his mates for a sizeable markup, designed Somnacin for their projects instead. Together they schemed in an abandoned warehouse in South London.

Mal could dream and build beautiful golden structures but her talent in lucid dreaming was problem solving. Mal seemed to know instinctively where the dreamers kept their darkest secrets.

Arthur was in the pub on a mission. Mal had examined the files from the latest batch of dreamers her father had recruited for his research. Fifteen people every month were hooked up to the PASIVs while their father searched their memories for possible candidates for the army or the government spy programs.

Mal flagged one candidate during this round of research. His name: Lachlan Reginald Eames the third. Mal promised this Lachlan fellow would be easy to spot. She described him as jolie-laide. Mal, his very practical and very blunt older sister, believed Lachlan an ugly beautiful. 

“Mon Petit Chou, he’s a brawler. His teeth are imperfect. He has a swagger. But there’s something about him. He has certain un je ne c’est quoi,” Mal said to him this morning before Arthur left to meet this mysterious ugly-hot guy. 

“Ya dinnae dingy me ye snotty bastard ye,” said the voice behind in the most condensing tone. Arthur squared his shoulders before he turned around because Arthur understood the gist of the words being said to him.

Arthur snarked back, “I was ignoring you. Why the hell are you faking a Scottish accent? Mal told me you’re a posh pretty boy.”

Lachlan grinned widely, “You think I’m pretty? Pet, if you weren’t jailbait, I’d have you right here on the bar. I’m Eames, by the way.”

Arthur stomped away from Eames, shaking his head. Mal had warned him that Eames was gorgeous. But Arthur wondered where the hell Eames found a 70’s shaped tie in the hideous shade of pink that perfectly matched his socks?

Arthur was glad he never told Eames his first impressions of him. Arthur had been so wrong about Eames.

Eames was everything Mal had warned him about. Eames sauntered into every room as though he owned it. Eames could change how people perceived him with a change of accent, wearing a tailored suit and a slight change to his walk. 

More interestingly, Eames could change himself in dreams. Arthur had never met anyone who could change who they with such skill and ease. How could Eames be so confident in real life but slide from persona to persona in a dream?

While Eames could morph and change topside and in dreams, one thing stayed constant. Eames always wore something pink. Arthur wondered if Eames was even aware that he did it. Of course Eames knew. Everything Eames wore had purpose. Even the colour pink, right?

Arthur changed. He learned the power of an expensive suit. Arthur cut his hair. He matured.

Eames grew more handsome although Eames could wear a cloak of concealment when it suited his needs. Eames only shone when he wished it. 

But Arthur saw Eames through rose-tinted glasses. Eames was the most beautiful creature Arthur had ever met. Eames learned how to mimic colleagues, then marks in the dreamscapes. Eames became a forger. The first. The best. Eames could transform into a thousand different people or personas but Arthur liked Eames the best as himself.

Arthur became an indispensable architect. Yes, he could be point like his sister but Arthur prefered to build one white marble basilica in each of his modern, sleek cities. Temples that were odes to Eames, gems hidden shining brightly but undetected. 

Eames once stood in front of Arthur’s white marble Basilica with tiled red roof, overshadowed by the glass towers of a bustling metropolis. Eames looked over her shoulder, the pink sundress he wore should have clashed with his sleek long red hair, puzzled. Arthur froze for a moment, Eames knew. Eames knew Arthur had built this structure as an ode to his beauty and strength.

“You never cease to amaze me. You’re dreams have beautiful, hidden layers, Darling” said Eames with a hint of wonder in his voice.

When Eames and Arthur worked together it was seamless. Most jobs only needed a architect and a forger once Yusuf made their Somnacin.

Mal met Dom at one of their father's Oxford soirées. Yusef introduced them to the Japanese Billionaire Saito who wanted to fund Mal’s lucid dream research.

Mal and Dom had a baby. The cutest little girl. Eames bought her the tiniest baby clothes and a pink stuffed ostrich named Rupert.

Arthur fell more and more in love with this beautiful man but Arthur didn’t want to ruin their working relationship. Don’t mess with something this perfect. 

Eames bantered with Arthur as they planned their next job together in the office tower they shared with Yusuf and their newest recruit Ariadne. As Eames flirted outrageously, Arthur shook his head ignoring Eames and his innuendoes, wondering where the hell Eames had found this latest shirt? The shirt was so loud and obnoxious (and full of pink, of course!)

Their first official date happened right after Mal announced she was pregnant with her second child. Arthur would be an uncle again. Eames was the first person he wanted to share the big news with. Eames was his best friend. Arthur had been in love with Eames for so long but had never told him.

Arthur knew he needed to make the first move. Eames flirted but never stepped over the line saying how he felt. Arthur didn’t care anymore. No more what-ifs. Arthur could do this. Arthur could say how he felt. Take a chance. Roll the dice. Go for broke.

“Take me home tonight, Eames.” Arthur watched for his minute tells. Eames might have a perfect poker face but Arthur knew the tiny ear twitch or the slight rock forward if he was standing up.

Eames pulled him close, whispering into his ear, “What took you so long? I’ve been waiting for you to see me since the day we met.”

“I’ve always seen you Eames. You’re hard to miss,” Arthur bites Eames playfully on his neck, licking the hint of collarbone hidden under Eames’ bright pink tee shirt. 

“Tonight a proper date. Suits. Drinks…” Eames trailed off as Arthur kissed him. Those glorious lips. Why did Arthur wait so long? 

“Deal but I want breakfast in bed naked tomorrow morning,” demanded Arthur greedily, hugging Eames close feeling those powerful muscles pulling him close. 

“We can be naked all day if that’s your wish,” said Eames with a grin.

“Eames, you do it on purpose,” said Arthur one morning as he made them breakfast at their new flat. Arthur couldn’t believe they'd been living together for more than a year. A year with the most beautiful man he’d ever laid eyes on.

“Do what, poppet?” said Eames fixing the sash on his pink robe. 

Arthur shook his head. Maybe he shouldn’t mention it after all. Maybe Eames wearing pink was a secret that only Arthur knew for sure.


End file.
